UPDATED: University of Miami launches website with LGBT resources

UPDATE, 2:25 p.m., Sept. 3, 2015: This story originally stated that the university’s LGBT website was launched following a letter to President Julio Frenk from an alumnus. The website was in fact launched this summer, prior to the letter and the Miami Hurricane’s story. This post will be updated with the correct launch date of the website as soon as possible. 

Five days after The Miami Hurricane published a story about a University of Miami alumnus’s letter outlining complaints over the school’s LGBT resources and policies to the school’s President Julio Frenk, the school has launched a new area of its website for LGBT resources and information.

According to a press release in the University’s e-veritas newsletter from Aug. 27, the website features “information on programs, events, and campus resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) students.” The site includes a link to the IBIS (I Believe In Solidarity) Ally Network, a “group of UM faculty, staff, and students who completed an intensive training session on ways to help LGBTQ students thrive on campus.” The website is the first of its kind at the school.

In addition to the ally network, the website contains sections for the school’s LGBT student organizations, a list of LGBT programs and events, LGBT campus resources and a LGBT campus news section that has links to two LGBT-related stories from the university and one from The Miami Hurricane.

The alumnus, Ryan Aquilina, who wrote the letter to which President Frenk responded last week said the website was a “good thing to finally have,” but the school still has much to do.  He added that the website still does not offer any professional LGBT resources.

“A website in and of itself is not progress,” he said. “But it will help the community hold UM accountable to real progress… It’s something everyone can access to see if real progress has been made or not. ”

UPride President Jeremy Penn believes the websites launch is a positive step, although more progress is still needed.

“While there’s definitely room for improvement with regards to both the LGBTQ+ resources on campus and their visibility via this new site, it’s definitely a good first step in the right direction.”
Featured image courtesy UMiami Student Life